This volume explores the interface between morphosyntax and semantics-pragmatics in the domain of referential and quantificational nominal expressions. We present case studies from Romance and Germanic languages, dealing with both synchronic and diachronic aspects. Our aim is to empirically test, on the basis of comparative data, the most recent theoretical developments in the analysis of reference and quantification and to identify focal points for future research.
Chiara Gianollo is Associate Professor in General and Historical Linguistics at the University of Bologna. Her main research areas are diachronic syntax and semantics, with specific focus on the use of formal theoretical linguistics to investigate the history of Greek, Latin, and Old Romance.
Klaus von Heusinger is Professor in General and German Linguistics at the University of Cologne. He works and publishes in theoretical and comparative linguistics with a focus on referential categories, such as (in)definiteness, specificity, and partitivity, and on Differential Object Marking in Germanic, Romance and Altaic languages.
Maria Napoli is Associate Professor in General and Historical Linguistics at the University of Eastern Piedmont. She obtained her PhD at the University of Pisa (2003). She is the Author of several contributions mainly dealing with language change (in Indo-European languages), syntax-semantics interface, diachronic typology.
Preface List of Tables Notes on Contributors Abbreviations
1 Reference and Quantification in Nominal Phrases: The Current Landscape and the Way Ahead Chiara Gianollo, Klaus von Heusinger and Maria Napoli
2 Definite Plural Generics in English: Evidence from De-adjectival Nominalization Artemis Alexiadou
3 Quantification and Classification in Romance Plural Indefinites: From Number to Seinsart? Mario Squartini
4 Topics and the Interpretation of Referential Null Subjects Manuel Leonetti
5 Specificity and Questions of Specification Edgar Onea
6 Being Bare: A Survey of Quantifier Positions Cecilia Poletto
7 Indefinites as Fossils: The Case of wh-based Free Choice Maria Aloni
8 The Evaluative Meaning of the Indefinite qualunque in (Old) Italian Olga Kellert
9 Bare and Indefinite Nominal Predicates in the History of German Svetlana Petrova
Index of Subjects
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